Benjamin Braeden
by Clay covered hilltop
Summary: Dean receives a call from a dying hunter telling him that Ben has run off, a demon hot on his heels. Jumping into action Dean rushes to Battle Creek where him and Sam begins searching for the boy he would have once been glad to call son. Though whatever memories he may have Ben is now sixteen and a different person who's secret hobby might just ruin the reunion of a lifetime.
1. The Phone Call

Chapter 1 – The Phone Call

It had to be said Dean was finding himself to be more and more of a morning person since they'd taken up residence in the bunker, seeing as at six in the morning he was cooking eggs while whistling Back in Black. True back before they became more or less stationary it'd be normal to find him awake at three in the morning polishing guns, and blessing holy water or compacting salt into bullets. Essentially whatever needed to get done, however he hated it with a passion. True he would always keep his mind focused so he didn't screw up the job at hand but just beneath the surface he was pleading with himself to just go back to sleep.

Except nowadays Dean slept in and got six hours of sleep instead of four, but rather than scrambling, spending more time blessing water he instead had begun to expand his culinary chops from the burgers they'd had a few months past to the ribs yesterday and today, glorious eggs. Yes it seemed like it was destined to be a good day, there was no hunt going on no pressing research and yesterday he and Sam had agreed to take it slow all day perhaps even watching a movie or two. Granted they'd probably be men of letters news reels but they'd take what they could get.

And then following the motto that what can go wrong will Dean's phone began ringing, he knew it'd be bad news it couldn't not be bad news he simply didn't know how bad, bad news could get. But when he drew it from his pocket his heart stopped in an instant, the call was from Jacob Hughes a hunter who owed Dean his life. The reason his heart had come to a standstill was because he'd called that favor in years ago when he told him to keep an eye on Lisa Braeden and her son Ben.

"Talk to me Jacob." he answered, voice tense.

"Dean… he tricked me." the voice said slow and laborious. "He's a firecracker and a half your boy, and uh I'm in a bit of a bad way here."

"Where are you? What happened?"

"I'm at their place in Battle Creek cept there was a demon here waiting."

"A demon?! Look Jacob stay on the phone I'm on the way."

"Naw don't worry about coming here. I'm done for and your boys long gone, took the demon with him don't fret over the broad she's still at work, But if you wanna catch the kid you'd better get looking." Jacob gave a weak laugh before a fit of coughing took him over and the phone must've slid from his grasp as there was a thud and the source of the coughing seemed far off.

Dean left the eggs still cooking as he ran to the library and began typing furiously on his laptop. Sometime later the smell of charred breakfast woke Sam who ran by Dean swearing when he saw the fire blazing above the pan. Dean took this opportunity to grab the laptop and begin moving for the Bunker door.

"D-" Sam looked over his shoulder to see him leaving and quickly put the pan in the sink, steam and smoke billowed everywhere while the smell got twice as bad. Sam, somewhat satisfied turned and ran after his brother. "Dean what the hell? Where are you going?" Sam asked catching him outside the bunker as he opened the door to the Impala.

His older brother ignored him however slamming the door and starting the engine. Sam looked down he wore his usual attire of jeans and a plaid over shirt but his wallet and phone were still in his room. After one second, and a single moment of poor decision making he ignored all the alarm bells going off in his head and got in just as his brother started pulling away from the bunker, Dean looked his brother over but said nothing. Waiting until his brother was preoccupied backing out Sam reached forward and snatched the laptop out of the dash eagerly opening it.

"Hey give that back." Dean snapped but Sam ignored him looking over the little research his brother had gotten done, mostly police reports at or around the Battle Creek area. Morgue searches, signs of cattle mutilation, if there were any solstices in the sky the past couple of nights, all of which had pulled up nothing.

"Sooo demons… in Battle Creek Michigan?" Sam began arching his brows. "What the hell Dean? You don't run off in order to chase a goose even if demons are involved. Not to mention without breakfast." he added, Dean gave him a sideways glare.

"Very funny. Keep looking every five minutes at least with the morgues. And see if you can find anything unusual from around the area."

Sam threw up his hands but said nothing he figured Dean wasn't gonna start making sense until he'd had time to sort out whatever happened in his head. So he did as he was asked going through the brother's checklist of the freaky things that happen no one pays attention to. First if there were any haunted locations where a ghost may have sprung up or if any odd death had occurred heart missing head missing etcetera but it pulled up nothing. Then when he went back to the morgue search he found something that had just been published.

He scanned the page before reading aloud. "Paul Smits male age forty three was found dead, killed in self defense in the home of one Lisa Braeden. It is believed to be a robbery gone wrong, while the owner was not home at the time her sixteen year old son Ben Braeden likely was however he has reportedly gone missing. It is clear the man was stabbed to death though no blade was found at the scene of the crime. We ask for any information anyone may have regarding this incident."

Dean said nothing for about a minute when he did speak he sounded tired despite having only been awake for about an hour and a half.

"The dead guy is Jacob Hughes a hunter who-"

"I know who Jacob is. I've worked a job with him before." Sam threw in with thinly veiled annoyance. Dean didn't seem to notice the interruption continuing.

"-I had him watching out for Ben and Lisa. He called me this morning said Ben was gone and that a demon had gone after him. Jacob was dying on the phone and apparently he didn't make it so here we are..." Dean quipped in a bland tone.

Sam shook his head and pushed down all the anger and annoyance he was feeling towards his idiot brother and said calmly.

"Alright I get it, I'm on board." before continuing to search on the laptop. A silence followed before Dean said quietly.

"Thanks."

"Shut up." was the response.

Some time later Sam mumbled. "What the- Okay Dean this may not be related but there was another disappearance yesterday, here it says. Madeline Sia female age twenty five entrepreneur and store owner went missing after her shop was robbed there is no account of what was stolen due to poor record-keeping in regards to inventory. Miss. Sia was reported missing only hours after the robbery yesterday any information would be appreciated if you know her whereabouts."

"That is weird, what kinda business was she running?" Dean asked while Sam continued typing.

Once he found it the younger brother sat dumbfounded wondering how this had gone unnoticed he was sure Dean kept an eye on the two so it seemed impossible that this store could have slid under the radar especially if there was a hunter in town. "Well I found it and get this it's a library of the occult as well as a store with hundreds of so called magical items. I mean who knows if the store is legitimate but it seems likely it could be connected."

"Yea alright we'll hit there first. What's the name of the place?"

"Inkantation… Look Dean I get it I do but don't you think you should check on-"

"Don't Sam do not I'm warning you… We're going to the shop we'll find what we need there." Dean said desperate for Sam to just shut up.

Luckily Sam didn't reciprocate he didn't do anything, he just continued looking through any info he could find. It was gonna be a long drive even with Dean keeping a lead foot on the pedal given his apparent refusal to even turn the radio on. When they finally stopped for gas Sam went in and bought food if you could call it that, course it hadn't killed them yet so that was something. The only thing was he'd had to take Dean's wallet to pay for it all which he was sure he wouldn't live down anytime soon.

The drive from Lebanon Kansas to Battle Creek Michigan was a whooping fifteen hours which they did almost nonstop. Fortunately Inkantation was still open at eight o'clock when they arrived, another stroke of luck came with the fact that they had recently made badges in the glove box, and the fed suits were in the trunk. Sam had thought seriously about getting them cleaned the previous day, then they would be up a creek.

Unfortunately after a drive like they'd just been through the brothers now smelled like sweat and burritos, but there was no time to get showers as the store was closing in about fifteen minutes. The only thing in their way now was Sam's worries that Dean might lose his cool, something that draws a lot of attention to you especially when you're posing as federal agents.

Upon entering they both reeled back as a wall of incense slammed into their faces and more importantly their noses, Dean winced while Sam shook his head furiously trying to fend off the assault on his senses, suddenly the thought that anyone would notice their scent went out the window. The bigger question now was where was everybody there didn't seem to be a single customer only a younger guy behind the counter who spotted them entering and bound up to them.

"Hello and welcome to Inkantation! My names Yuri Smith." the abrupt glee caused Dean to take a step back. Sam coughed awkwardly but pulled out his id.

"Hi I'm agent Simmons and this is my partner agent Frehley. We're here in regards to the theft as well as your missing store owner Madeline Sia."

"Oh yea you would be wouldn't you?" he asked without missing a beat sounding just as giddy.

The guy looked to be a young adult either a college student or recently graduated high school. Yuri had short cut black hair that had a neon green stripe through it which had been spiked up front. He seemed pretty gangly for his age nearly even with Dean though he clearly had a few years to go.

"Listen guy-" Dean started before Sam cut him off.

"We just want to know what happened. What exactly was stolen? It wasn't mentioned in the report." The man looked surprised and said.

"Look guys." the chipperness fading for the first time. "I really don't care about the painting but Madeline I'd like back, all I can tell you is she took off after the thief yesterday morning. I told her not to but she said cops weren't fitted to take him on, whatever that means."

Sam and Dean glanced at each other there may as well have been a neon sign saying the two were connected.

"So you have no idea where Madeline is yet your running her store?" Dean asked confused.

"Well yea she didn't go missing per se, and besides it was her brother who went ballistic after she left. He called the cops and everything I was only able to clear them out and reopen this morning."

"And the painting why was that stolen? Was it valuable?" Sam asked.

"No… not really." he answered though he seemed to reserve something so he pressed.

"Are you sure? Anything at all could help."

"Well I guess you could say it's a portal to the other side, the land of the dead and whatever." he added but didn't sound like his heart was in it.

"Does the piece have a name?" Dean shot back looking serious as a heart attack, so much so Yuri actually shrunk back a bit at his intensity.

"No, no, look Madeline painted it... Besides everyone knows that mystical mumbo jumbo is baloney." he said looking from one to the other.

"You work in a shop full of magical objects." Sam replied skeptical.

"Well yea but none of its real I mean it's just junk, the only thing that makes it any more special is that it's all made here."

"In America?" Dean questioned.

"By Madeline." he answered looking annoyed for the first time. "Look guys I gotta close up the shop. I've been working every shift myself and I'd like to get some sleep before we- I reopen in the morning." he ended with a sigh.

"Alright, alright." Dean said shaking his head. "One last question, have you ever seen this kid in the shop? This picture was taken about five years ago, he'd be sixteen now."

Dean handed the photo to him, while Sam simply noticed he'd had to get the picture from somewhere, more likely he'd just never parted with it. Yuri seemed to look at it confused but only for a second until his face lit up.

"Hey! This is a baby picture of Benny Brae-Brae! Oh my goodness he has such chubby cheeks I just wanna pinch them!"

"Wait so you know Ben Braeden?" Dean asked heart skipping a beat.

"Well yea he works here occasionally when he's not playing hooky, or acting like a crazy person."

Yuri's smile had returned but Dean was now glaring which led to Sam stepping in once again. "When was the last time you saw Ben?"

"It was yesterday a few hours after Madeline ran out. I thought he was coming to relive me so I could call Mitchell, Madeline's brother but instead he just grabbed the fish and left."

"I'm sorry did you say fish?" Dean asked trying to keep his cool.

"Yea the fish tank hauled it off fish and all. Crazy huh?"

"Why would he take the fish tank?" Sam asked long past the point of confusion.

"Your guess is as good as mine I've barely been able to get out of the store, and he hasn't returned any of my calls. At least I'm getting paid overtime for working both our shifts so that's nice... I guess."

"So you had no idea about the murder?" Dean asked evenly.

"Whoa hold up did you say murder? Is Ben alright?!" Yuri asked worriedly looking from one agent to the other.

"There was a robber found dead in the Braeden residence believed to have been killed in self defense by Ben. Now he's missing." Sam said in an apologetic tone as Yuri shook his head in disbelief.

"W- But Ben wouldn't hurt a fly I mean I guess it's good he did what he had to, b- but no when did this happen?"

"This morning."

"Do you think it has to do with Madeline going missing? And the painting being stolen?" he asked breathing faster and faster.

"That's what we're hoping to find out." Sam said calmly hoping it would transfer to the rapidly cracking Yuri.

"What about Madeline's brother do you have his address or phone number? He might have some more information." Dean asked

"Um yea." Yuri said taking another deep breath. "Honestly I don't know where he lives but he comes in here occasionally, and I found his number in the back office a while back."

"Could you get us that number please? It could really help." Sam asked.

"Sure just uh wait here." he said and turned around heading behind the counter.

As soon as he was gone Dean whispered. "This is a waste of time this guy clearly doesn't know anything."

"Well he knows Ben at least, what I don't get is why he would steal a fish tank. Do you think he was going after Madeline?"

"Could be but why wait till this morning? Not to mention who stole the painting? And where does the demon fit into it?"

"Should we call Crowley and tell him to call the demon off?" Sam pondered.

"Are you kidding me?!" Dean said but stopped suddenly realizing how loud he'd said that and continued in a harsh whisper. "We're not exactly on great terms with Crowley right now and if he finds out that Lisa and Ben are involved he'll probably just try to turn that against us. Besides who's to say this demon isn't working for Crowley? Did you forget it was him who…" Dean stopped short unable to finish the sentence.

"Alright here it is." Yuri said coming back through a few seconds later and handing a sticky note to Dean.

"Thanks, and we'll get out of here so you close up shop." Sam said turning to the door.

"Yeah okay I think I'll swing by and check on Ms. Lisa before I go home." he said following them out of the store, as he locked the door the brothers just looked to each other. Yuri clearly wasn't taking the news all that well but there wasn't much they could do about it.

Once they were safely inside the walls of the Impala Dean pulled out his cell phone before studying the sticky note and tapping rapidly.

"Dean it's getting late maybe we should call it a day, get a hotel room or something, start fresh in the morning…" and of course Dean was ignoring him. After a few rings however the call went to voice mail and Dean sat staring at the screen before throwing it into the dash with more ferocity then some people throw baseballs.

Putting the car in reverse Dean sped away from Inkantation.

"So are we going to a motel or-" Sam let it trail off Dean was impossible when he was like this, which meant like usual Sam was along for the ride stuck with a highly agitated brother.

"Great." he mumbled.

 **So this is my first publication this story is NOT finished fyi but I promise I will put 110% into finishing it please tell me what you think I would be very thankful.**


	2. Of Morgues, Motels, & midnight meetings

Chapter 2 – Of Morgues, Motels, & midnight meetings.

Ten minutes passed in silence and while Dean fumed Sam simply leaned back and relaxed in the passenger seat, like it or not he was along for this ride. He wouldn't say he knew where Dean was taking them but he certainly wasn't surprised when they pulled into the parking lot of the hospital Jacob Hughes had been taken to. Posing as the same agents the two went in to examine the corpse.

The Medical Examiner was surprised to have visitors as late as it was but gladly showed them the body that true to the article had been stabbed to death. Several wounds worked their way all up and down the chest, gaping wounds that looked like a butcher knife would have had to be buried to the hilt on every stab of which there were plenty. With this many injuries Dean was surprised he'd managed to find the strength to call him let alone stay conscious for the entire duration of the thirty second call.

"And they're saying a kid did all this?" Dean asked nonchalantly.

"Well innocent people don't generally flee the scene of the crime, and besides it's not like there was anyone else in the house."

"Are you sure?" he shot back.

"Pardon?" the aging man in charge asked.

"I mean were there cameras, or any witnesses? How can you be sure there wasn't anybody else?" Dean asked his voice rising to the very edge of anger.

"I suppose we can't be positive but there was nothing in the report and the police did tear the home apart pretty good."

"What about the murder weapon did they ever find that?" Sam asked diverting the attention from Dean.

"Afraid not, that's mostly what they've been looking for all day."

"Do you have any clue what it might have been?"

"Well I have an idea but it doesn't quite hold up... Have you two been to the house yet?"

"We haven't we just rolled into town a little bit ago." Sam answered.

"Well no matter I have the photos. Here." the man hoisted a large album that seemed to have pictures of everything within the house. "If you look here you can see where it happened in the entrance way, he must have caught him as he came in the door."

The pictures showed it all, and the images of Jacob slumped against the wall by the door made Dean's expression turn cold. "See that table by the door there's a 22mm pistol hidden there in the drawer. Lisa Braeden, the mother says Ben knew it was there. Now I can't pretend to know what goes through your head when an armed intruder is staring you down and he may not have gotten the opportunity to grab it. However he ran off and the guns still in the drawer, seems unlikely you'd forget to grab that regardless of what was going through your head.

Now there's also no shortage of sharp objects in the house but none are missing nor do they match the wounds so unless he brought it in with him and also took it out then- well simply put we're at a loss."

"You said an armed intruder?" Dean asked.

"Yes that's another point of interest the man who was found dead had a gun of his own, a 9mm which he didn't use on Mr. Benjamin Braeden surprisingly. Of course he may not have gotten the chance, we would have had to have been there to know for sure."

"What did he use the gun on?" Sam asked trying to gain the attention of the wondering coroner.

"His phone, he blasted it to oblivion the gunshots are what got the neighbors attention, and caused him to call the police."

"How can you be sure Ben didn't get a bullet?" Sam continued.

"Full clip all bullets found either in or around the phone. Can't be sure why he did it but the techs have already said he was efficient the phones definitely dead."

Dean shook his head Jacob had watched his back and likely the backs of a couple dozen other hunters even when bleeding to death, he wouldn't forget everything he'd done.

"You mentioned you had an idea about what the weapon was?" Sam asked.

"Right that's the best part!" he said suddenly excited like he was remembering for the first time. Sam only arched his brows to give him the go ahead to continue.

"A sword." he said looking down his glasses at the younger brother who frowned.

"A sword?" Sam said making sure he'd heard correctly.

"Yes and not just any sword, a keris." he answered almost ecstatic while the brothers just shared a confused look.

"I apologize I'm a bit of an enthusiast so when I saw the injuries I had the thought, see here this is what would have killed him." flipping the pages of the album he came to a picture of a sword which not only curved once but back and forth several times.

"Keep in mind this is not the blade that did it, that one would have been much longer. See help me flip him." Together they moved Jacob's body to reveal that most of the stab wounds in the front had exited the back.

"The wall in the entrance way also had several scuffs from where he'd been stuck into it by the blade." the Medical Examiner said as they let go and Jacob fell back to where he was.

"Sooo what? You think a sixteen year old kid was walking around his house with a two and a half foot sword which he probably can't even lift let alone use properly. A type of sword I assume you can't find locally, and when the robber came through the door the kid just what? Charged him? A man both larger and stronger then proceeded to stab him a ton of times in the chest, having the strength and precision to pin him to the wall in certain instances? I gotta say if that's how you think it happened then I can see why the kid ran for it." Dean said in a mocking tone. Seconds passed without a word and Sam groaned silently while the M.E. removed his glasses and gave Dean an interested look.

"You know agent Frehley you've used that term multiple times now. Kid. Being a federal agent I would assume you if anyone would be well aware that many so called children have done many worse things than kill an armed intruder in self defense. I should hope you know that and regardless of if Benjamin Braeden killed this man in cold blood or self defense this man is dead, his life robbed by your so called kid."

The man replaced his spectacles while Dean glared at the wall refusing to meet his wizen, owl like gaze.

"So the… keris was it? You did go back and ask Lisa Braeden if they had one of those in the house correct?" Sam asked.

"I did and as I figured she had no idea what a keris even was."

"Alright well thank you for the time to examine the body." Sam said extending his hand to shake. He accepted and after Dean followed Sam out of the hospital.

As they crossed the parking lot Dean's quiet stream of curse words grew louder and louder until he slammed the door to the Impala and let out the loudest son of a bitch in recent history.

"Dean-" Sam began.

"Shut it." he replied and drove off in a cloud of dust as the Impala squealed in discomfort to the sudden acceleration. Dean wasn't even trying to edge around the speed limit anymore, instead he drove at a breakneck speed back into downtown lights streaming past daring any cop to try and stop him luckily none did. At last he swung into a motel parking lot and nearly snapped the key off in the ignition trying to get out of the vehicle.

Sam meanwhile grabbed the laptop and anything else in the Impala. Luckily they each kept a set of clothes under the back seat in case an emergency arose. When he finally pulled himself out of the Impala he was encumbered with all the stuff making it difficult until at last kicking the door shut behind him he looked around for Dean assuming he had gone into the office to get a room key.

He hadn't though Dean was instead leaning against the roof of the Impala head buried in his arms. "Dude are you crying?!" Sam asked feeling the bottom fall out in his stomach. The older brother looked up, his face was certainly not tear streaked rather he looked enraged. "No Sam I'm not crying I'm pissed off, thought you'd know the difference."

"Well we're in new waters here Dean. The last time I heard Lisa and Ben's names was when you threatened to break my nose."

"You want me to cash that check." he threatened.

"Dean come on you don't have to act so damn indestructible all the time, Ben is missing and there's a demon with a sword chasing him not to mention Jacob's dead. You have every right to be mad or sad or whatever you want, all I'm saying is your not helping anything by acting like a ticking time bomb."

"Hey I didn't ask you to come so you can keep your advice to yourself, and your mouth shut." he answered jabbing a finger at Sam.

"You nearly got us busted in the morgue Dean. Treating Ben like a kid… That was years ago you don't know what kind of person he is now."

"What exactly are you saying?" the elder brother asked suddenly straightening up.

"Nothing I just- he doesn't remember you Dean. Neither does Lisa so if you treat them like old friends you're going to scare them off, or worse."

"Are you freaking serious right now?" he asked voice rising. "I got enough crap on my mind without you pointing out every little thing I do wrong!" Dean paused listening to how far his shout had traveled before looking back at Sam a glare set in place. "And ya know what I'm not having this conversation with you. Now or ever."

With that he turned and made his way to the motel's tiny corner office. Sam watched him leave and slammed a fist into the roof of the Impala but waited there against the car. Ten minutes later Dean walked out key in hand, Sam readjusted so the armload wasn't in danger of toppling and followed his stubborn ass of a brother to the room. Inside was little to their surprise a room that looked like it'd been thrown together by a blind deaf designer on a budget. The walls were a sea green and the carpet simply orange whether from dirt or clay or god forbid if it was the original color and had been put down intentionally.

There were of course two beds each with matching green sheets as well as a dresser with a TV set on it. Past the small room and to the right was a bathroom which Dean claimed grabbing a shower first thing. Sam meanwhile just sat on the bed and tried to piece together the events of the day which he'd hoped would include drinking and watching men of letters documentaries. Instead he was in Battle Creek without his phone or wallet with a very angry Dean trying to find Ben Braeden someone he hadn't even given a second thought to in many years.

True he remembered his time being soulless but even now he didn't feel like that had been him regardless of if it was or not. During his own few encounters with the kid he'd spoken to Ben multiple times and the resemblance was uncanny. Even so he had to wonder what it would be like if the Jinn hadn't gone after Dean and his family maybe he'd still be there happy… Sam doubted it, strictly speaking Dean was never happy or content to sit still. Not to mention he himself would still be soulless, or rather there would still be a shell of him running around and he'd be in hell getting tortured even now. Technically speaking he had reclaimed the fragments of what made Sam Winchester, Sam Winchester but the vast majority of him associated with those days in the box more than anything.

Maybe he was glad Dean's one chance to have a family life was shredded, true it was a terrible thing to think especially after what Lisa, and Ben had been put through. Still he and Dean both thought the two would be safe if they left and never returned, whatever had caused the demon to shred Dean's imagination wasn't playing fair and as always the brothers were left to put the pieces back together again. Perhaps they'd wipe Lisa and Ben's memories again so they'd be at the very least ignorant of what evil swirled around all the Winchesters touched.

Once Dean was out hardly looking refreshed Sam went in and took a much needed shower leaving him to sit on the remaining bed. Dean tried to call Madeline's brother again to no avail and then rolled over attempting to sleep on top of the most likely bug ridden bed. Perhaps that was the best and worst thing about living in the bunker, standards something he hadn't had in many years. As he lay there Dean figured sleep would elude him anyway especially after today's events, he at least hoped Sam wouldn't bother him if he appeared to be snoozing.

Lo and behold however he did manage to drift off or at least by Winchester standards, seeing as with them sleep was a loose term and only occurred intermittently. Often times ending with them shooting up from a nightmare gun in hand covered in sweat. Fortunately the eldest Winchester hadn't yet reached that stage when his phone began to ring on the bedside table. Rolling over he squinted at the eight dollar alarm clock the room was stocked with and read that it was three in the morning he'd been asleep less than four hours. Snatching the phone he read the number and was instantly wide awake.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Yello this is Mitchell Sia did you call me earlier?"

"Yea, names Dean I was looking into the disappearance of your sister Madeline. Is it possible we could meet somewhere and discuss any information you might have?" the phone went silent for a second

"I guess. Sure where do you want to meet?"

"What's open?" he asked himself more than the guy on the other end of the line or Sam who was getting up to hit the light. "Might as well get a meal out of it, how about the international house of waffles?"

"Great I can be there in an hour." Mitchell Sia answered.

"Alright I'll meet ya there- oh hold up I gotta brother who's interested to. Mind if he tags along?"

"Sure more the merrier." he answered sounding genuinely happy about the concept.

Once the phone call ended Dean rolled out of bed and began dressing. Sam meanwhile was looking out the window with a steady gaze more out of habit than concern there might be someone watching.

"Waffles?" he asked.

"It's open at least."

Truth be told Dean actually did want waffles but the main reason for the choice in food was he knew where it was, he'd seen it when they were leaving Inkantation plus it had tons of windows and limited exits being the perfect place to either trap someone or get outta dodge as each necessity arose. When they arrived the brothers were forty five minutes early so the two sat in the car waiting, planning to go in after the man in question entered. Sam slumped against his window and considered trying to grab a few more Zzz's then as if he'd read his mind Dean who was looking out his own window at the establishment next to them spoke.

"You can sleep a bit if you want, I'm watching for the brother." he said stoically without looking back at him.

"My hero." Sam muttered too tired to care whether he looked like his six year old baby of a little brother self.

Sam's nap lasted for what felt like half a second before Dean reached back and shoved him his face hitting the glass beside him. "He's here, come on." he said quietly opening his door and getting out while Sam rubbed his now sore neck. Before they even entered the two had locked onto Mitchell he was wearing casual enough clothes and had blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail but he was right on time and Dean was semi confident in his ability to match a voice to a face. Entering the nearly abandoned restaurant they walked up to the guy who'd sat at a booth away from everyone else.

"Are you Mitchell?" he asked walking up hands stuffed in his jacket pockets.

"I am you must be Dean." he answered face practically beaming.

"Yea this is my brother Sam. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions about your sister's disappearance."

"Sure, sure just pop a squat first, the waitress should be back in a second." he said with a smile.

They did so, Sam sliding in first. Once they were situated Dean straightened in the seat and asked "So your Madeline's brother than?"

"Her good for nothing twin brother yes, yes I am. So you two stopped by the store I take it? Talked to Yuri?" he asked still just a smiling.

"Yes we did." Dean replied simply.

"So you're the one who called the police when Madeline ran off then?" Sam asked

"I am, I just don't know what got into her head thinking she could take on a robber by herself. Really I just hope someone finds her before she finds him and gets herself hurt or worse."

"Well is there any reason why your sister would go after the thief besides wanting the painting back?"

"Not really she's just never been made a fool of I'm sure it's more a pride thing, besides the painting wasn't all that valuable." he said simply as the waitress approached holding a glass of milk for Mitchell.

"Hello there, is there anything I can get you two?"

"I'll take water." Dean answered never taking his eyes off of Mitchell..

"Can I get coffee." Sam pleaded though he was low against the table his sore neck was craned looking up at her, she smiled warmly saying.

"Sure doll. I'll be right back with that." Coughing Sam came back to the matter at hand saying in a professional tone.

"Well I'm sure there was some attachment there given that she painted it and all."

"I guess." Mitchell said sipping the milk through a straw while looking off in the distance. "But I doubt it, she's a practical woman she wouldn't have been overly offended by losing something that cost her like fifty bucks to make, she's always known the value of things. Now if they'd stolen her register she'd probably have gone even more off the reservation. If you can imagine that." he said sipping his milk again.

"Do you have any idea where she would have gone? What would have made her think she'd be able to catch up to the robber?"

"Well unlike when the cops found out, she chased after him pretty soon after the theft. The trail may not have been totally cold. I still can't believe Yuri didn't call the cops the second she left."

"You think it'd be possible if we could look around her place, see if there are any clues to where she might have gone?" Dean asked.

"Absolutely I live with her after all so it's like half mine." he answered excitedly.

"Really?" came the skeptical reply.

"Well technically I'm living with her more than the other way around... Certified freeloader here." he said taking his hands off the glass long enough to point two thumbs at himself.

The brothers were more than a little surprised by his honesty but then the drinks arrived and the waitress gave Sam a warm smile as she poured his coffee before merely dropping Dean's water in front of him. He didn't notice instead saying.

"About Inkantation, you seem to know Yuri well enough and Madeline runs the place. So then are you aware of a Ben Braeden who was also working there?"

"Of course I know Ben he spends as much time at Madeline's apartment as he does at the shop." Dean's eyebrows arched while Sam took the coffee cup away from his lips.

"Pardon? What does that mean exactly?" Dean asked lowering the glass before he got a drink.

Before an answer came however Sam who was pinned into the booth by Dean slapped him in the shoulder and pointed to his throat giving a dry cough. The older brother immediately reached for his gun but Mitchell leveled his own on him.

"What did you do you bastard?" Dean shouted.

"Eh, eh, eh keep it down. We don't want the innocent staff getting involved now do we?" he asked sickeningly able to maintain an air of innocence. Meanwhile Sam's coughing fit was anything but quiet. "Now then Dean if you want your brother to survive the next five minutes you're going to do exactly what I say. Got it?"

 **Did anyone notice in the last chapter Dean used 'yet' in a conversation? Clearly I haven't mastered the boys' dialogue, but one step at a time. Anyway thank you for reading I really appreciate it and also in case you couldn't tell I will likely be uploading a chapter every Friday... probably should have mentioned that in the first chapter... whoops anyway thanks again for reading.**


	3. The Car Ride

Chapter 3 – The Car Ride.

"Fine, what do you want?" Dean said through clenched teeth sitting back though his brain was going a mile a minute. How had he poisoned Sam without either noticing? It was impossible the barista must have done it, but why she actually seemed to like Sam and that's not to say his water wouldn't have done the same.

"Right well hm… hm... well-" Mitchell faltered looking from one brother to the next and back.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Well to be honest I didn't think you'd fall for the trap. I mean your hunters I just thought you'd outsmart me."

"You think this is funny? My brother is dying!" Dean snapped glaring daggers into the presumed moron. Sam meanwhile was not doing well he still gasped coughing occasionally but he wasn't turning blue yet so he had that going for him.

"Dean." he squeezed out while hitting his hand on the table between coughing fits.

"Right, right well you forced my hand really I mean me and my sister may not always get along with each other but I couldn't let you just track her down and kill her. Now could I?"

"If you're scared of us hunters then what are you a Ghoul? A Vampire? A Witch? I assume you have a reason." Dean asked. Keeping his hands low he began feeling under the table while the accused witch visibly flinched at the mention of his title. "A witch huh? A witch who uses a gun and poison?" he asked attempting to keep him distracted.

"What can I say, my sister was always the traditional one and I was… well the practical one." regaining his composure Mitchell even managed a smirk.

Meanwhile under the table Dean pulled the hex bag free from a crevice where the pole holding the table up met the flat piece of wood they were seated around, and handed it to Sam who in his flailing coughing fit managed to pull his lighter out of his pocket without gaining attention. He then lit the bag on fire under the table.

Once he was free of it Sam pulled out his own gun and pointed it at Mitchell before rubbing his now very sore throat. "Well you figured it out… Shit I thought I could make you think it was poison… If you don't mind me asking how exactly did you know I was using a hex bag?" Mitchell asked taking his finger off the trigger and setting the gun on the table. Dean quickly grabbed it and held it at the man.

"Not the first time someone tried to kill me with a hex bag I know the feeling." Sam answered his voice a considerable amount scratchier. Dean wasn't for the pleasantries however saying coldly.

"Start talking."

"What do you mean? I already did I wasn't lying or anything."

"You said Ben was always at Madeline's why?" Sam asked trying to cool Dean's anger.

"Uh because she's his teacher, duh."

"You mean she was training Ben to be a witch?" Sam asked

"Yea exactly." he answered like they weren't currently aiming at him.

"That's a lie! Ben's smarter than that. He wouldn't have gotten involved in that crap." Dean growled threatening to shoot.

"Oh right you're the kid's dad aren't you? Man I totally forgot about that. Ya know I was not prepared for this confrontation... like at all." he said with a laugh. "But yea sorry to break it to you Ben's totally her student got quite a knack for the craft to."

"Where is he?" Dean pressed.

"Well he probably chased after Madeline but I have no idea where he is now."

Mitchell leaned back in the booth and crossed his arms over his head.

"So if you and your sister are both witches then why did you call the cops? You had to know it would draw a hunter's attention." Sam pointed out.

"Yea I did, I actually hoped it would call every hunter, not just you goons."

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Because Madeline doesn't know what she's up against and I do."

"What is she up against then?" Sam asked.

"A demon a big one to."

"Then what? You were hoping the hunter's you called in would lock on to the demon and just go after it? Without finding you and your sister? They're not stupid they'd find you just as easy as anything." Dean said somewhat proudly in spite of everything.

"Okay so maybe not the most well thought out plan but someone's gotta kill the demon and I'm sure not going near it. I love my sister and Ben's an okay kid but you can just forget me getting involved."

"You just tried to kill my brother!" Dean accused voice rising.

"Yea I was hoping I could blackmail you into killing the demon by holding one of you up." Mitchell said with a shrug.

"Is this the same demon who tried to kill Ben yesterday morning?" Sam asked.

"Yea that's the one good thing your friend sacrificed himself to get Ben out of there. It'd been a shame to see the kid get gutted over our mistakes."

"So instead Jacob Hughes paid for your mistakes." Dean said glaring.

"Who?" Mitchell asked but didn't really seem interested in the answer.

"The hunter who saved Ben his name was Jacob."

"Right whatever. Well you gotta admit it was smart of the demon to make Madeline run after a thief while what he really needed was the fish."

"Again with the damn fish what's the deal with the fish tank?" Dean asked.

"Well the fish in the tank are all familiars." he answered simply.

"Like partner spirits?" Sam asked remembering their own friend over in St Louis who had a familiar in the form of Portia, a Doberman Pinscher.

"So what?" Dean asked.

"Well if you must know the demon chasing your kid was once a powerful witch who sold his soul for all the power a demon could grant him, and I mean all. Course in his day demons were more generous, most nowadays when asked such a request just open the door to magic a bit but with him the door was flung open and he nearly had the strength to overpower her right there. And let me tell you he was a bad mama-jama he taught me and my sister everything we know back in his hay day."

"What does the fish have to do with that?" Dean asked getting tired of the rigmarole and beating around the bush.

"Because his familiar is in the tank to, trapped in its animal form and let me tell you. The last thing you want is those two together in the same room it's like Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka but less fun times."

"Wait so they rape and kill people?" Dean asked appalled at the idea while Sam just looked sideways at him.

"What? I saw a movie about it once." he answered innocently with a shrug. Sam was genuinely surprised he had studied the case along with a million others when he was at Stanford but he didn't expect Dean to know about it.

"No okay bad example they kill people is all I'm trying to say."

"You could have just said Bonnie and Clyde then." he retorted.

"Well they weren't exactly bank robbers either… well there was that one time in- uh-oh uh-oh." Mitchell broke off suddenly nodding his head to the waitress who was making her way to their table.

Sam and Dean had a dilemma as their guns were still leveled and were going back and forth with the idea of stowing them as it would give Mitchell a chance to escape.

"Whatcha gonna do Whatcha gonna do?" he said gleefully heckling the brothers who merely moved the weapons back and forth unsure of what to do with them. In their indecision however neither of them took their guns off the table and when the waitress arrived she looked down and froze.

"Oh- oh my I'm so sorry, I'll get your order in a-" she stopped short cheeks beet red and hurried off looking over her shoulder once she was far enough and gave a disgusted humph before disappearing into the back.

The brothers looked down and Dean gave a yelp dropping the… pink object letting the thing he never wanted to know was so soft fall and roll around on the table. Sam luckily was spared this embarrassment as he merely held a peeled banana instead of his pistol but dropped it all the same wiping his hand on his shirt, Mitchell meanwhile was busy laughing at the incident and pointing at the brothers in turn. Dean glared and the brothers gave each other a simple nod, standing up they pulled Mitchell out of the booth and had him handcuffed just as quick.

"Laugh your way out of this you son of a bitch." Dean growled.

"Iron handcuffs? Hey come on guys that's not cool. I was just messing with you, heck you could argue that I kept her from freaking out and calling the cops on you."

"If anything I'd say you ensured it." Sam muttered leading the way out of the restaurant.

Given the waitresses were now giving the trio a wide breadth getting out of the building with a man in handcuffs was surprisingly easy. Once outside they put him in the backseat of the Impala and Dean got in the driver's seat. Turning the car on he then put his arm on the seat to twist back and look at the still chuckling Mitchell.

"Alright now your gonna answer all of our questions and your gonna tell the truth cause I have absolutely no patience left." he snapped.

"Dean we should probably get out of here in case the cops really do show." Sam said to his glaring brother.

Meanwhile Mitchell actually looked hurt in the back and said. "I haven't lied yet. Honest everything I've told you's the truth, the demon the other demon the fish all true. We can even go to Madeline's if you want... guys?" he added as the car had gotten quiet.

"Fine I'll bite. What can you tell us about the demon he made the deal with to get his power? You seemed to know it was a chick if nothing else."

"What really? You probably haven't even heard of her this was a really long time ago."

"Try us we've done our research." Sam put in.

"She went by Lilith… I think. Look it's been a long time since I thought about that stage of my life, it wasn't all fun and games ya know."

The brothers looked at each other they'd heard that name before but not for many years and were thankful for it, before Mitchell could speak again however Dean cut him off.

"Alright Mitchell we'll go to Madeline's place since you're so insistent but if you lead us into a trap we will kill you. We have the technology. " Dean said simply and proceeded to back out of the parking spot the Impala occupied.

"Wait my ride!"

The other inhabitants of the car looked over to see the beat to hell, off white Yugo parked crooked by the restaurant's entrance.

"If it get's towed I'll foot the impound fee how's that sound?" Dean asked just wishing he would shut up.

"Oh alright then." Mitchell said though his eyes stayed on the car until Dean snapped him back out of it.

":Hey! I need to know where you live." he demanded.

"Right it's about a ten minute drive kind of a straight shot. Turn right and go to the first light."

Dean did so though Mitchell turned back to watch his car until it was out of sight.

"So your teacher turned demon and his familiar why are they such bad news?" Sam asked breaking the silence.

"Well have you ever heard of the sorcerer of Trois-Freres?"

"No."

"Yes."

Sam and Dean answered simultaneously. They then looked at each other and Sam scoffed. "Seriously? He's like the oldest shaman in history."

"Yea seriously Dean get some culture- oh left here!" Mitchell shouted suddenly.

Dean cussed under his breath and whipped the wheel nearly flipping the Impala in an effort to make the turn.

"Alright shove it both of you." Dean said through clenched teeth. "I don't care who he is I don't even care about his fish. I care about Ben, and if you can't tell me where he is then I don't see why I shouldn't leave you in a ditch somewhere."

"Really your gonna let me go? Sweet." Mitchell said happily sitting back on the cuffs glad Dean wasn't such a bad guy after all.

"He means kill you." Sam clarified. Then with a sigh he began massaging his temples.

"Hey that's not fair!" Mitchell whined. "I've complied I've even sat in these handcuffs for like ten minutes and that's not fun. Seriously I'm willing to help besides if you want info on Dubois or Blanc I know like everything about them."

"Wait." Sam said looking back over the seat. "Dubois was that the sorcerer of Trois-Freres's name?" he asked excited as a school girl to be able to put a name to the carvings.

"Which would make Blanc the fish." Dean threw in uninterested.

Mitchell meanwhile nodded slowly before speaking.

"It was one of them, I mean it's what we always called him but after the first thousand years or so most witches like to change their name if nothing else because their bored with it, I mean you think I was born Mitchell? Heck no I've thought it was a lame name for like fifty years but Madeline loves her name especially after she read those stupid books. So I can't really change if she doesn't Madeline and Mitchell just roll together really well don't ya think… but yea Dubois sure, back then it seemed like we hadn't changed names in forever so it sort of stuck." he added when he saw they didn't care about the bits of trivia.

"Also you missed the turn."

"You were supposed to tell me the turn!" Dean shot back. "Hold up if this sorcerer is so old then how old are you and your sister?"

"…Pretty old." he answered looking around trying to avoid Dean's eyes in the mirror as he made a u-turn.

"How old." he asked though it sounded less like a question as he locked eyes with him in the mirror breaking Mitchell's resolve down with a sledge hammer.

"Alright fine let's just say I might have to add a few less greats to get back to Adam and Eve being my grandparents."

"You're their kid!?" Sam asked twisting his already sore neck to study the blonde kid who looked younger then himself.

"No I didn't say that, you said that." Mitchell said tossing off the accusation like a diseased blanket. "And if you ever meet Madeline just know she hates it when people talk about how old we are."

"But how? I realize some witches have obtained immortality but you sound like you've seen everything. How's that possible?"

"It's sort of a family secret just suffice to say I've been around the world a few times."

"Fine your old we get it, explains how you changed the guns like it was nothing." Dean spoke into the rearview mirror.

"And why the iron cuffs were so easy to get off." he added before realizing what he'd said, picking the cuffs up off the seat he put them on again before giving the brothers an innocent smile though it was too little too late.

Dean slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. Glaring back at Mitchell he pointed his gun at him.

"Quit toying with us! If you can escape, why haven't you yet?" he shouted.

"Because-" Mitchell began but was cut off when Dean shot him square in the chest. The noise echoed twice as loud within the confines of the Impala and Sam, ears ringing snatched the gun from his brother.

"Dean what the hell! You just shot him… In the Impala."

"So? What's the big deal? He's perfectly fine. Hey make sure that bullet didn't go through, if there's a hole in the seat it's your ass." Dean said nodding to the now mildly annoyed Mitchell who's light blue shirt didn't have the faintest tint of red where the bullet had gone through the fabric.

"Like I was saying you two seem semi competent and if you're trying to find Ben you might accidentally find Madeline along the way. I doubt you'd be able to do anything to Dubois he'd probably slaughter both of you, but it might give me and Madeline a chance to escape."

"That's so sweet." Dean said mockingly throwing the car in drive and pulling back onto the road before grabbing the gun out of Sam's grip and resting it in his lap one hand constantly resting on it.

"You just shot me." he answered and instead of slipping out of them he merely jerked his arms apart breaking the cuffs like they were plastic. Then looked at Sam who was still turned around watching him.

"So did the sorce- Dubois really look like a deer man like the carvings depict?" Sam asked not used to him having a name to go by yet.

"No but he was obsessed with animals he was the first to ever have a familiar after all, he could do all sorts of things, shape shift, conjure storms, make pillars of fire come down from the sky… that was one of his favorites used to make the pagans go crazy." he added with a chuckle.

"But you never got one?" Sam asked

"One what?" he asked coming back to them.

"A familiar."

"Oh no not me, it wasn't really my style. Besides you have to give up like half your power and I was always sorta selfish when it came to my power."

"What about Madeline?"

"Na her neither though after spending so much time with Dubois and Blanc I wouldn't be surprised if we know more about the practice then the witches who do have them."

Sam and Mitchell continued to talk back and forth during the drive, they didn't miss another turn but the so called ten minute drive turned into twenty minutes which turned into thirty minutes and was making the brother's question how Mitchell had made it to IHOW within the hour. Dean who was forced to take Mitchell's orders for more than fifteen minutes had made him think seriously about making good on his threat, and every minute after only made it seem like a more acceptable course of action.

Fortunately when Dean had nearly taken all he could handle and was tired of hearing the two gabbing like a pair of old lady's albeit a pair of old ladies who talk about occult ritual's and their origins. Mitchell piped up.

"This is it! Turn in here!" Dean struggled to make the turn into the parking lot but gave an internal sigh when it was done and the engine was cut. He rubbed the Impala's dash in apology for what it'd been put through.

"Sorry for that." he said though it was inaudible to anyone else. Climbing out of the car all three stood and looked up at the apartment which was in clear disarray.

"It looks abandoned." Dean pointed out.

"Well it's not, now come on." he said and bounded ahead.

As soon as he was out of earshot Dean leaned over to Sam. "He's tricking us, he has to be. We can't trust a word he's told us."

"I'm not saying I believe everything he says but if even half of it is true then the men of letters would have killed to get their hands on him. Just his knowledge alone seems equal to the library at the bunker." Dean only looked at his brother waiting for him to snap out of being star struck which he did after he caught sight of Dean's uninterested expression. "Right well regardless of how powerful he is as a witch, which is pretty damn strong. There's no reason the angel blade shouldn't work." Sam said but neither were all too confident in the reassurance.

 **There we are chapter 3 hope everyone enjoyed it. Again I am beyond thankful that you read this chapter and even this far into my fanfiction please let me know what ya think... If you don't leave a comment then I'll assume I did so good with this chapter that it is a masterpiece and will go down in history as the best chapter of a fanfiction ever subsequently I will upload this same chapter next week as I have clearly struck gold and never need to change it up... kidding anyway thanks again.**


	4. The Apartment

Chapter 4 – The Apartment

Hurrying to catch up to Mitchell Dean put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back just as he reached for the apartments door handle.

"How about we let Sam go first? I don't want you to try anything funny."

"Okay, but I wouldn't do that. The door will only open for witches." he said blocking Sam from grabbing the handle.

"Wait so this apartment building is full of witches? You brought us to a damn coven!" Dean snapped already drawing his gun.

"What? No this isn't a coven it's just a lot of witches trying to avoid hunter's and live in peace… by the way if anyone asks don't tell them you're hunters… please it's in the lease agreement."

"Then what are we?" Sam asked crossing his arms.

"Uh if anyone asks just say you're a witch and you're his familiar." Mitchell said pointing first to Sam and then Dean.

Was it wrong for Sam to enjoy being the witch in the relationship? Probably so, but was it funny to watch Dean fume at being named "the pet" in his words. Heck yes. Once Dean had calmed down and threatened to shoot Mitchell again, at last he opened the door and they walked into the plush five star hotel looking apartment building.

The brothers froze immediately, from outside they could see through the clear glass and it had looked like the building… terrible but inside the building led into a room with beautiful hardwood floor that had snow white carpet underfoot, with furniture that looked like a model would lay on it during a photo shoot. Off to the left there was a front desk and a young woman with a plain uniform standing behind it a smile plastered on. Ahead there was a narrow hall with gold elevators lining the walls.

After they'd taken it in Mitchell led them through giving a wave to the receptionist whose name was Clara according to him. They got into the first elevator that opened and went to the eighth floor which was two from the top. Walking along Mitchell hummed absentmindedly walking to room 88 where they waited for him to slide a card in and have the door click open.

"Surprisingly low security don't you think? I mean a key card? A physical lock would be harder to get through." Sam noted off hand knowing full well he could pick nearly every lock placed in front of him.

"Well it's a bit tougher than you might think see if anyone touches my key who isn't me, Madeline, or Ben. They spontaneously combust." he said like it was nothing more than a fun fact.

The brothers looked to each other before the door swung open, where the apartment building had looked terrible and the lobby had been glamorous this was nearly the opposite. It had seemed the room was destined to be fancy with gold silverware and paintings by well known artists, instead the walls were cream with pink flowers and the carpet was a shade of brown that most homes had. The furniture as well was modest at best with a low table between two couches in the living room.

One thing the room had that didn't surprise the brothers was clutter. Whether it was half crafted objects destined to fill the shelves of Inkantation, or books that laid everywhere from the cabinet by the door, to between the sofa cushions falling into the abyss that lay there, there was even a scroll that hung from a cabinet door in the kitchen dipping dangerously close to a sink full of dirty water and plates. Clothes completed the image with shirts, and jackets everywhere one of which sat on the couch by the table. Nearly running over Dean picked it up and said quietly.

"Who's is this?"

"That's Ben's. How'd you know?"

"He had a jacket like this when he was younger… What is all this?" he asked nodding to a stack of notebooks and loose papers some of which had his name written hastily across it.

"That's Ben's homework, Madeline has him hitting the books pretty hard since the apprenticeship became official."

Dean didn't respond instead he opened one and began reading to himself. Sam meanwhile opened the first book within reach and was not disappointed by the ritual's it had laid out in unbelievable detail within. After only a second however he put it down not because he lost interest but because he wanted something more substantial something juicy, leafing through a cluttered bookshelf he pulled free a piece of browned paper written entirely in Enochian.

"This is the angel banishing sigil! With explicit instructions on how to expel them from the area."

"Yea well we don't use it all that much I mean Samson used to check on us all the time but we haven't seen him in forever. Guess he got tired of us kicking him out every time he came for a visit."

"So you're aware that angels exist and you've met one? But then why always banish him? Weren't trying to help I mean he was an angel." Sam asked testing Mitchell's knowledge on the subject.

"Clearly you haven't met many angels so let me let you in on a secret. They are pains in the butt they're all tied up in protocol and their precious orders from above. Samson was without a doubt the worst guardian angel ever."

Sam nodded he was sure that statement would have earned him points with Dean except his head was still buried in Ben's notebooks- wait did he say guardian angel. "Wait did you say Guardian angel?"

"Oh yea your pretty young so I don't guess you'd know. Well back in the day when there were less people than angels everyone on Earth got one, occasionally siblings shared. Mine and Madeline's was Samson."

"Have you ever tried praying to him?" Sam asked thinking of Dean's experience with Castiel.

"…We used to but like I said we don't like hanging with him he got pretty judgmental when we turned to witchcraft… understandable really but even if I did pray I doubt he wants to visit like I said we always banished him when he showed up..."

"You might wanna try it sometime." Sam offered the now depressed sounding Mitchell.

"Know a lot about angel's do ya?"

"We've met a few in our time."

"Right well I thought you were here to look for evidence pertaining to finding Madeline. Not to go through all our stuff." Mitchell stated curtly, apparently Sam had struck a nerve.

"It's true." Dean said quietly standing up as he put one of Ben's notebooks back on the table.

Mitchell and Sam both looked at him as he walked over Ben's jacket still in his hand, Sam didn't figure Dean even realized he still had it… this wouldn't end well. In a flash he slammed the witch into the wall and held his elbow to Mitchell's throat. "Why did you fill that boy's head up with this trash he's better than that, better than you." Dean was clearly past the point of reasoning he didn't even look angry he just looked… determined.

"Luk tes- tn wal-s neigh- orsa- dic." he choked out.

"What'd he say?" Dean asked through clenched teeth.

"I said we have thin walls and our neighbors a dick." Mitchell said from behind them just as Dean with nothing in front of him slammed into the wall he'd just had Mitchell up against. Sam looked from where Mitchell had been pinned to where he now stood checking his nails.

Dean was not impressed by the parlor trick however and with hunched shoulders began advancing towards Mitchell once again, this time drawing a silver blade from within his jacket. "Whoa Dean what the hell are you doing?" Sam asked jumping between the two.

"I'm going to kill him."

"Dean we have to find Ben and Mitchells helping… more or less." Sam added looking back at the witch who still didn't seem interested in the topic at hand.

"So what? We'll kill him and tear the house apart if we don't find anything then I'll go to Lisa's and look. I'd rather do that then spend one more second listening to this moron ramble on about nothing."

"Look Dean I get it I do but you're just going to have to deal with it. For Ben's sake, we'll find him allot sooner with Mitchell's help than without it."

Dean seemed to be weighing his options in his head when there was a heavy handed knock on the apartment door, and Mitchell swore under his breath. "Damn it's gotta be Abraham you two go hide in a back room, it doesn't matter which." the brother's didn't seem thrilled by the concept but Dean pointed the blade at Mitchell as a warning, though whether it was a threat not to rat them out or simply a forewarning was unknown.

As the two stepped quietly towards the back Dean noticed there were three rooms aside from the single bath and opened each in turn. The first was Madeline's as it had even more half finished crafts and charms as well as a revealing black and white spread of Bing Crosby pinned to the wall that both confused and unsettled the brothers. Closing the door they opened the second which was almost certainly Mitchell's. Clothes were mound in piles everywhere and on a desk sat a record player which spun lazily as it seemed he'd forgotten to turn it off.

Opening the last door, Dean laid eyes on more jackets like the one he held and a duffel bag sitting on the bed with even more spilling out. Next to the bag was an iPod which Sam picked up and began flicking through before showing Dean the collection of AC/DC, Styx, Animals, and Led Zeppelin. The elder brother actually sighed with relief like he'd just received a phone call from the kidnapped victim, it was his first true sign that Ben might be okay. From there the brothers split up looking for whatever they could find.

Sam found a surprisingly competent rune etched into the bedside table that had the purpose of warding against nightmares, more effective than a dream catcher anyway. Dean found more notebooks these pertaining to actual schoolwork and marveled at how similar it looked to one of his when he attended high school if he was attending high school that week anyway. There were doodles on the pages where subjects he found to be too easy sat, while on the more difficult subjects there were scratch marks blacking out everything incorrect like it didn't deserve to see the light of day until maybe a fifth of the page was visible and a fraction of that legible.

Continuing to search it didn't take Dean long to reach the conclusion that Ben hadn't left any clues as to where he'd gone either intentionally or not, and in fact it didn't look like Ben was even living here just staying over from time to time. Not that it made a difference to Dean, he was just as angry now as he had been when he'd tried to kill Mitchell. Hearing a thunk in the hall Sam moved to the door pulling out a spare gun he'd grabbed from the Impala's glove box.

Pressing an ear to the door he inched it open. Stumbling back he nearly tripped over a pile of clothes the reason being a massive brown bear walking through the hall stopping at each of the doors for only a second before continuing. Motioning for his brother to get back further into the room Sam edged into the closet, Dean stayed for a second and watched as the bear's nose poked through the opening in the door. Just before he entered Dean dove behind the bed. The bear whose head was poking through suddenly changed into a tall Indian man. He looked fairly young and as muscular as the bear it seemed. Behind him Mitchell walked up and said in a tense voice.

"It's time for you to go Abraham." Putting a hand on his shoulder Mitchell began pulling him back, though that the massive man moved at all from Mitchell's grip was a testament to his strength.

The man looked torn but said with a growl. "Very well Mitchell but keep it down from now on."

"Whatever you say Abraham." he said the levity back in an instant. The brothers waited until they thought they heard the apartment door close to get out of the closet and off the floor. They found Mitchell in the hall standing hands on his hips looking into his sister's room shaking his head.

He noticed them watching and said. "Hey look guys I'm really sorry I didn't realize she had that on the wall."

"Right well let's just forget about it shall we." Dean said walking past avoiding looking into the open door. Sam's will wasn't quite as strong as his brothers and as he passed stole another look. Nope just as horrific, he flushed a shade of red and coughed awkwardly once he was back in the living room.

Mitchell slammed the door and locked it with magic hoping it would keep the evil contained within. "Great now my weirdo neighbor has seen my sister's smutty picture, this week gets even better."

"And we're back to square one how are we going to find Ben now? There isn't a single hint in this apartment." Dean said annoyed pacing back and forth.

"Maybe not but there is lots of ancient literature, I could stand to look around a bit more." Sam stated.

"We aren't here to play Men of Letters Sam we're trying to find Ben before he gets himself killed." Dean snapped.

"Well what's the plan then?" Sam asked.

Dean stopped suddenly saying.

"Right here's what we're going to do. Sam you'll play agent again and stop by Lisa's to see if you can find anything there. I'm going to go pay Crowley a visit."

"What shout I do?" Mitchell asked excitedly.

"You'll come with me, Sam can search the house himself."

"Sweet I'm backup."

"Sure backup… come on." Dean said grabbing Ben's books off the table, he moved for the exit.

Sam and Mitchell followed him to the Impala, the drive back into town was much quieter and once they dropped Sam off at the motel Dean pulled away heading towards Fall River and the Needham Asylum. Sam was just glad to be back with a bed, and made the executive decision to sleep before going to the Braeden house he was sure Lisa didn't want company this early anyway they'd been up all night and it was nearly six.

When he woke hours later it was nearly noon. Deciding the house was too far to walk he stole a ride quite the image a giant of a man wearing a suit hotwiring a car. Driving up to the house he saw the cops were still mulling about which seemed odd surely there was nothing more to see. Still he was more concerned with seeing Lisa again. Given he felt any apprehension he knew exactly why Dean refused to come.

Walking up the front steps he showed his badge to the officer at the door and entered the house. There didn't seem to be a sheriff here it was all just officers and lab workers Sam was sure they couldn't have missed anything. Anything obvious at least but witch paraphernalia might still be lying about. Looking around he saw a lone lab tech standing off to the side and walked up to him.

"Found any signs of the kid?"

"You are?" he asked plainly. Sam rolled his eyes as he flashed his id again.

"Na we haven't found a thing cept blood, and the guy's phone of course. Other than that we're pretty much done here."

"Why are you still here? Doesn't the mother need a break from this?" he asked gesturing to the room full of people.

"Well sure she does but she wants to find her son as much as the captain."

"The captain?"

"Yea he's around here somewhere."

"Why does he care?"

"Why wouldn't he? He's only engaged to the kid's mom…" the tech took notice of Sam's blank expression.

"Lisa Braeden's fiancé…" he nudged trying to push Sam in the right direction.

"She's getting married." Sam let out a breath, that was gonna be a fun phone call.

"That's what I said… Look maybe you should talk to the captain he just walked in." the guy nodded to a bulky man with a buzz cut and black mustache who had just entered. Sam realized the tech simply didn't want to converse anymore but didn't mind the excuse to get rid of him as he would have only used one himself.

Walking up to the man he cut to the chase and showed his id introducing himself. "I'm agent Simmons. What can you tell me about the robber, and the kid?" The man seemed lost for a second before snapping out of it with a shake of the head.

"Right, captain Owen, Mark. We've been trying to figure out what happened ourselves but all we get is more questions. The guy Paul Smits isn't in the system we have no idea who he is, we figure it's a fake name and id but the dental hasn't come back yet so we're at a standstill there. Our M.E. is convinced it was a curved blade that he was killed with but Ben didn't even have a pocket knife let alone a sword." he said, he was clearly tired likely sleep deprived a point with which Sam could sympathize.

"What about the mother, Lisa does she have any ideas?"

"Lis? Heck no she's as lost as me, and I'm the cop."

"Have you looked into the stolen painting at Inkantation where he was working? Could the two be connected?"

"I truly hate to admit it, but not as much as we should have. Still Madeline Sia the owner ran off of her own accord, if she has a vendetta that's her problem we made a report on it but our main objective is finding Ben."

"And there's been no sign's as to where he went to?"

"None that we've found." he answered with a sigh.

"Do you mind if I take a look around his room? Maybe a fresh set of eyes could find something."

"Sure follow me, I'll show you which one it is."

Mark led Sam up the stairs dodging techs and cops as they did, the room was down the hall on the left and had a couple officers inside.

"Hey clear out." the captain said pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the door, to which they scrambled to get out through. "Feel free to look around but unless you're looking for a messy room I don't think you'll have much luck. I need to get back downstairs feel free to look around the house I'm not gonna stop you." Once he was gone Sam rubbed his neck unsure where to start before diving into the clutter.

 **Ok chapter four is in the books thanks for reading let me know if you spot anything wrong with my writing if you don't mind. Thanks again.**


	5. Bonding?

Chapter 5 – Bonding?

It took all of five minutes for Dean to realize he should have left Mitchell where he was. The blonde had an inherent ability to never shut up one Dean was sure it had taken all of his rather long life to master. With yet another fifteen hour drive lying ahead Dean was unsure how he would survive. He tried everything including tuning him out and cranking the radio but nothing worked, and after only a few hours on the road Dean needed a break he needed something anyway and the two pulled into a roadside diner, he hadn't gotten to eat before and was dying for some eggs.

After they'd ordered Dean listened eyes closed to Mitchell however once in his babblings he brought up Ben's love of baseball. Dean's eyes snapped open and he fixed Mitchell with a look.

"Baseball huh?"

"Oh yea he loves it, if the amount he talks about it is any indication. Me I haven't cared since Ty Cobb played though." again Dean brushed off Mitchell's factoids about himself saying.

"What else can ya tell me about him?" Dean realized he was going down a path he probably shouldn't, it had been easy to stay away from Ben and Lisa when he knew nothing about the lives they were leading and easier to pretend he didn't care. But considering Ben could be killed by a centuries old demon and his pet goldfish any second he at least figured he was owed this.

"Well he's pretty average for a sixteen year old, goes to high school, hangs out with friends, and works at the shop most days."

"Hard worker?" Dean asked as their food arrived.

"I guess he definitely studies a lot."

"Right. Does he have a girlfriend?"

"At the moment… don't think so he was with some red haired chick but they split."

"What happened?"

"I think I heard his mom wasn't a fan so he cut her loose."

A tiny smile peeked through but Dean smothered it quickly. "Good boy."

"Right whatever." Mitchell said for the first time wanting the talk to stop.

"How are his grades? Is he passing?"

"Yea he's passing his classes Madeline does some tutoring occasionally. When he's not working on his… other assignments."

Dean got quiet and the two managed to sit in silence for a time. When their food came Dean continued.

"So, why? Why did Madeline take Ben in as her pupil? Couldn't she have taken literally any other snot nosed brat off the streets?" Dean asked his tone aggravated.

"You make it sound like she infected him with the witchcraft bug in some effort to turn him to the dark side, it's really not like that."

"Oh it's not?" Dean asked tense while glaring at the blonde.

"No it's not… Though technically I don't know it's not like he's my pupil but Madeline hasn't had an apprentice in close to two thousand years and that one didn't exactly end well I figured she was done with them for good and then Ben came in looking for a job. I don't know why she took him on but I do know it was a mutual agreement. No one put a gun to the kids head."

"Speaking of guns Dubois killed my hunter friend with a sword, a keris the coroner called it. Any idea why he would have been swinging one of those around?"

"Well back in the day he did like his swords… Besides that the keris is meant to kill the victims with them going though excruciating pain he probably just wants to use it on me and my sis and as you mentioned your hunter friend got in the way."

"Because he was protecting Ben." Dean said eyes flashing angrily. "Where were you anyway? When Ben was attacked."

Mitchell wasn't sure if there was an accusation there or not but keeping with his bizarre tradition of being painfully truthful he answered.

"I was hiding. After I heard Dubois was back in town I hid okay. Maybe I'm not proud of it but believe it or not I'm scared of him, he's more powerful than me or Madeline, you or your brother. So is it so strange to be such a coward when facing my old master?"

"Maybe not." Dean said and looked away staring down at his golden fluffy clouds which were getting cold and suddenly lost his appetite.

"Alright let's say you're right maybe Ben did want to learn from Madeline, which I guess I could accept. What is she teaching him? Has she told him most witches go insane, talking gibberish until the only thing their missing is green skin and a warty face?" Dean asked, while Mitchell glad for a change of topic said.

"Trust me Madeline hasn't glossed over the negatives of witchcraft she's told him about the hunger for power the lust for knowledge and yes the insanity that gets a lot of witches killed in the end."

"Good because if he thinks it's all waving a wand and other Harry Potter crap than I'm going to be pissed off." Dean stated already hating the thought of settling for a witch in the family.

"Look Madeline's always had a hold of her powers and she's a great teacher, if you want proof all I can say is that Ben was a bit overeager when he first started lessons so Madeline forced me to tell him about the time I spent fifty years in a Men of Letters jail cell blabbering on about greasy turnips. He sobered up pretty quick after that."

"You were imprisoned by the men of letters for fifty years?" Dean asked looking at the somewhat complicated witch that sat across from him and he got the feeling his biography alone would be a series of books each the size of a dictionary but he suspected with smaller words.

"Yep it was sort of a retreat that Madeline sent me on after I snapped and tried to turn a cat into a pair of mittens, I was working on that spell for months, was writing a whole grimoire on Tabby's versus Calico's, the people were going to be well versed if I had anything to say about it." Mitchell said nodding to Dean who actually chuckled.

"So what did the men of letters do to you?"

"Torture mostly." Mitchell answered quickly and nonchalantly. "Well I guess you could call it torture, they were trying to kill me couldn't do it though."

"Really?" Dean asked attempting to sound mildly interested.

"Yea see most witches can be killed by anything old age included but me and my sister are a special scenario so decapitation gunshot all of it was for naught… You're not going to try and kill me right?" Mitchell asked suddenly.

"Thinking about it." Dean said taking a page out of Mitchell's book and going for sheer honesty.

"Well than I suppose I should stop telling you what I'm immune to."

"Possibly." Dean answered with a shrug. "So then I have a question. If you're so old what cool stuff have you seen?"

"Cool stuff?" Mitchell repeated.

"Yea ya know JFK assassination? Abraham Lincoln assassination? First issue of Busty Asian Beauties?" he asked arching his brows at the last while Mitchell only after a few extra seconds had his eyes light up.

"Oh… well I don't know what your obsession with presidents getting killed is but no I was not around for any of those events. I did however get Rod Serling's autograph." he said suddenly excited pulling out his wallet, opening it to reveal plastic sheets that folded out till they hung a foot below the wallet however rather than there being pictures of babies or grandsons in Alberta Canada there were simple scraps of paper some brown and faded others fresher. Mitchell pointed to one with a name scrawled.

Though it was barely legible Dean didn't know what the man's signature looked like so he couldn't exactly contest it. Instead he was taking in the other names present from Ty Cobb to Anne Sullivan some of the older ones were Robert E lee and Johnny Appleseed. "You knew Johnny Appleseed?" Dean asked.

"John Chapman." he corrected. "Couldn't get him to write that though oh no had to be Appleseed. Guess who's laughing now dumbass." Mitchell said with a dark chuckle studying the name. Dean watched the dark expression interested before snatching the wallet back and studying a name before flipping it to show.

"I call bull you did not know Paul Bunyan he's a legend not a dude whose signature you can just walk up and get. Did ya meet Babe while you were there?" he asked mockingly.

"Yes I did as a matter of fact. She ate my hat." Mitchell said snatching the wallet back. If Dean couldn't appreciate his hard work then he didn't deserve to see his collection.

"So then you hunt autographs?"

"Yea my sister takes pictures and I get peoples signatures what of it.

"Wait." Dean said suddenly glad he hadn't continued to eat.

"You mean that picture in your sister's room was real? It wasn't some fake magic or whatever?"

"Yea why?"

"Your sister got Bing Crosby a legend to pose nude?"

Before he could get his answer however a waitress walked by and she had heard the conversation she glared at both and then hmphed away.

"Maybe we should get back on the road." Dean said noting her response.

"Good idea." Mitchell said and watched Dean pull out his wallet and said.

"Hold on I got this." he said and looked around seeing the napkin dispenser he snatched a few and folded them until they were the right size and when no one was looking turned the paper into green bills. He gave Dean a look that told him he was pleased with himself and laid the money on the table.

Dean glared, picking up the perfectly good twenty and ripped it in half. As he did the illusion shred with it and they were white napkins again. "Mitchell I have a question. Do you know how these small family owned diners stay afloat? Because it isn't by having witches rip them off." he said putting his card on the table looking right past the irony and the credit card which read Curry, Arthur. Mitchell frowned but said nothing as they left.

Much, much later when they reached Crowley's hideout the two managed to sneak into the mostly abandoned asylum Mitchell keeping close behind Dean who knew his way around. They moved in silence until reaching the throne room where the king was attending his court. They waited for the accountant demons to all leave before Dean stepped out of the shadows giving Crowley an innocent look while brandishing his angel blade.

"Why Dean what a surprise you should have called." he said though his voice was cold and uninterested.

"We need to talk and I didn't want to give you time to cook up a lie."

"I would never I'm as honest as the day I was born." Crowley said a mock hurt tone in place.

"Right." Dean answered stepping up to the king of hell. "I need to know about a demon and whether he was under your orders when he killed a hunter friend of mine."

Crowley seemed annoyed like they'd been over this in the past. "Look Dean I may have called my demons off you and your dearest brother but that doesn't mean every hunter this side of the Alps gets the same protection as you. If your hunter friend interfered in my demons business than any casualties that occur thereafter are just that... business." Crowley stated a wry smirk on his face.

To this Dean grabbed his collar and lifted him out of his throne. "Listen up your royal douchiness if I was here for a lecture on demon etiquette 101 I would have enrolled, but here's the deal. Benjamin Braeden is missing and my dead hunter says a demon did it so guess whose door I'm knocking on."

While Crowley was seconds away from a witty retort about how Dean had not in fact knocked, it was then that Mitchell followed the hunter out of the shadows and gave Crowley a meek look.

"You." he said aghast and Dean who was so close watched the light bulb flicker on behind his eyes and Crowley's smug appearance turned into shock.

"Focus-" Dean began and Crowley said blankly.

"Hold please." and disappeared the weight gone from Dean's arm caused him to fall forward however he caught himself on the throne.

"Oh what a surprise Crowley's run away again!" Dean shouted mockingly not caring how many goons heard him. He then rounded on Mitchell. "What was that? Why'd he run off when he saw you?" Dean asked seconds away from telling Mitchell to wait in the car.

"I don't know I've never seen him before in my life." Mitchell said innocently

"Well he seemed to know you."

Before he could make an accusation however Crowley was back though he was on the other side of the room and had a giant piece of paper which he unrolled and put on the ground. As he did Dean noticed he was out of breath despite the fact that he hadn't been gone for that long. The paper had what looked to be a symbol on it though it wasn't a devils trap. Once it was laid down however the demon jumped in the middle before turning back to Dean who walked over examining the craftsmanship.

"Now than Dean there is something I need to tell you. You need to know first of all I had nothing to do with the disappearance of Ben Braeden." he said though his arms were outstretched as if to keep Dean at bay.

"That's easy for you to say on the other side of that… What is that?" he said at last studying the symbol circling the contraption.

"Let's just call it a reverse devil's trap if you try to assault me it will reflect the blow or bullet as it were."

"Fine, whatever. Tell me what's he to you?" Dean asked nodding to Mitchell who was hovering behind him apparently not wishing to get closer.

"He's a witch and a powerful one but I assume you know that much. The true issue is the witch who taught him everything, the first witch and the first man that Lilith made a deal with for power-"

"Yea the witch and his fish we know all that Crowley get to the point."

"Right impatient moving on. As with most crossroad deals the sorcerer bargained with his soul."

"And?"

"When it came time to pay up the sorcerer decided he didn't have to. The worst kind of customer as it were."

"Crowley!" Dean nearly shouted in an attempt to regain his attention.

"Right, it took nine demons, a knight of hell, and his own pupils turning on him to bring him down and collect. And would you stop doing that!" Crowley shouted unnerved by Dean's continuous march around his circle of safety.

Dean stopped his march but it wasn't because of Crowley's request instead turning to face Mitchell who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"You betrayed Dubois? That's why he was coming after Madeline and you, it wasn't about the fish he wanted revenge… And you dragged Ben into the middle of it."

Changing targets Dean began to advance on Mitchell who was continuously backing away.

"That's not entirely true he does still want the fish… Hey look Dean I get why you're mad but it's not like we let Dubois out of hell. I mean we've spent the past few centuries looking over our shoulders for this guy it's just bad luck that he got out after Madeline took Ben in."

"How did he get out?" Dean asked looking back to Crowley though he still stood bearing down on Mitchell.

"I assume you haven't forgotten when the darkness was let loose on the world something that was entirely you and your brother's fault. And as you know Lucifer's cage was severely weakened to the point where he could give you precious brother visions."

"Yea I remember what about it?"

"Suffice to say there are more cages than just Lucifer's however his was not the only one that was weakened from the explosion of power."

"So, What? Hell's most wanted are all running loose?" Dean asked angrily.

"Hardly, there are many such cages in the deepest depths of hell. Dubois's was one of the strongest aside from the devil's own however his was weakened far more than the others and it allowed him to escape."

"And the other cages?"

"I have my best men working on securing the cages of that you can be sure no one wants them getting out trust me."

"So you didn't know one of your own prisoners was free? What kind of crappy warden are you?"

"Look Dean as I said I had nothing to do with the disappearance of Ben Braeden."

"Yea sure you're as innocent as a lamb. Look-" Dean began a finger jabbed at Crowley when his phone began ringing. Mumbling about something or other Dean pulled it out and studied the caller i.d.

"Sam." he said simply and answered it turning away from Mitchell and Crowley.

"Yea." he answered.

"Hey Dean I found something your gonna want to see. Have you made it to Crowley's yet?"

"Yea I'm here I got some new information that Mitchell apparently didn't' feel like sharing." Dean said throwing a glare at the blonde kid.

"Right well I think I found a way to find Ben."

"And you didn't lead with that?" Dean asked annoyed prepared to end the call he snapped his fingers at Mitchell who leapt to attention while Dean pointed to the way out and Mitchell began pulling away. "See you when we get back." he said but Sam quickly spoke before he could.

"Dean wait there's something else."

"What?" he asked sure nothing Sam could say was more important than him getting back on the road.

"It's about Lisa."

 **There's chapter five, I hope you enjoyed it and are ready for the next.**


	6. A Break in the Case

Chapter 6 – A break in the Case

Dean was not happy no he was quite possibly the exact opposite of happy he was certainly feeling something, something akin to a rage he hadn't felt since he'd possessed the mark of Cain. Lisa was engaged… Engaged. Dean kept repeating the word over in his mind as he sat on the motel mattress. He didn't hear a word Sam said nor did he see the picture that Sam had waved in his face nor did he care that Mitchell said he knew the sigil none of it mattered.

"Yea this symbol I can't believe she even remembered it. We used it to keep in contact if we ever got separated. What I don't get is why it's in Ben's closet I mean this is some intense magic, like years of practice at least there is no way Ben knows the intricacies of this particular spell."

"What do you think the purpose is then?... Dean?" Sam added looking to his zoned out brother who's head snapped up at the mention of his name.

"Right. Where'd you say you found it?" he asked despite that being one of the few questions whose answers the group did know.

"Back of the closet, hidden behind a cardboard box full of sports gear." Sam answered showing him the picture again.

"Okay so you two go back in there and figure it out whatever the deal is." Dean said like the plan was simple enough.

"Right that's where we're headed but as a back-up you need to go check Ben's high school, see if there's anything there."

"Fine." Dean answered absently.

Clearly Dean was still out of it but he'd snap out of the haze as soon as he was back on the trail.

"Right well we'll be going." Sam looked worriedly after his brother as he and Mitchell exited the hotel Mitchell now wearing Dean's suit.

The car ride was spent in silence though Sam did still want to know some info on different rituals of which Mitchell was all to knowledgeable he was still worried about Dean and Mitchell seemed preoccupied with pulling on a loose thread, Sam only noticed when his arm was stretched out as far as it would go and the button slid down into the floorboard. The sigh that followed was palpable and Sam wondered how Dean had survived so long in his presence.

Back at the Braeden residence Sam introduced Mitchell as his partner to Mark and he let them go on up into Ben's room. In the closet Sam removed the box he'd put back worried someone else would find the sigil and the two studied it despite there being next to no room for two grown men in the crawlspace the closet was it.

"Yep that's the one." Mitchell said with a grunt trying to get a closer look.

"How would it normally work?" Sam asked just as intrigued now as when he first found it.

"Well normally you draw the symbol, read the incantation and funnel in a butt load of magic and assuming the person you're trying to get in contact with has done the same all you have to do is put your hand on the symbol and talk."

"Wait so the other person has to have drawn the same symbol and have their hand to it for it to work? How would you ever get the timing right on that without just holding the symbol for hours in advance waiting for your call?"

"It's not a perfect system but it's all we had back then." Mitchell answered annoyed.

Sam ignored him however reaching forward to press his hand against the symbol. "It won't work you know only the person who put their magic into the sigil can speak through it." Mitchell said attempting to sound like a know it all however he accidentally lost his balance slamming into Sam who's hand went right through the sigil and the wall it was drawn on.

The two locked eyes for a moment Mitchell ready to pin the blame on Sam as soon as Officer Owen found out but then Sam saw it a faint glow coming from within moving his hand around in the dark he grasped it and pulled free a flip phone that had 8 missed calls all from Madeline. Then as if it had waited for their arrival the phone began vibrating and read Madeline across the screen for the ninth time.

"Oh so the symbol wasn't there for magical communication it was there for regular communication." Mitchell said genuinely impressed regardless of if the idea came from Madeline or if Ben had thought it up himself.

"Hello?" Sam answered.

But before an answer could come Mitchell snatched the phone from him having seen the caller id.

"Madeline? Sis?" A silence passed as Sam watched him.

"Oh hi Dubois." he said sounding more deflated than the fearful he claimed to feel about his old master. Sam just reached back in the hole pulling out a duffel bag apparently Ben had a bug out bag he was unable to grab when he was leaving, there was also a spell book one that was pretty common Sam had read though their own copy at the bunker several times but opening it he saw many notes Ben had taken about the problems with the spells and how it could be crafted better,

Sam wasn't big on magic but he'd done his homework and had to agree maybe Ben was a bit more skilled than they'd given him credit for. Sam simply put the book inside the duffel bag planning to take it when they left. Soon after Mitchell hung up the phone and handed it back to Sam.

"Sooo…" Sam nodded towards it as he dropped the phone in his pocket.

"Well Dubois has my sister, says he'll kill her if we don't get him Blanc."

"You think he'll do it?"

"He'll do it either way doesn't mean we have any less reason to find Ben."

Mitchell sounded different however and merely grabbed Ben's duffle from Sam sounding quite deflated now that he finally knew the whereabouts of his sister and that it was right where he hoped she wasn't. "You ready to get?" he said simply.

"Sure I'll give Dean a call when we get back out to the car." The two then struggled their way out of the tight space fortunately no cop had gotten curious seeing as two federal agents crawling around a sixteen year olds bedroom could probably be misconstrued with ease.

"Wait Sam said putting his hand out to stop Mitchell. "We can't just walk out with a bag we didn't have before we came up here." Sam said moving to the second story window he slid it open and looked out. There was the neighbor's fence and the houses AC unit by the house with a narrow walk way in between that had weeds growing up everywhere likely because you'd be crazy to take a lawn mower in there.

"So what do we do?"

"Throw the bag out the window and pick it up when we're leaving." Sam said though it sounded like it could have easily been a question he didn't know anymore than Mitchell if this would work. At best it does and at worst they get arrested so no big deal.

Mitchell hesitated for a moment and at last chunked it sending it far beyond the fence into the neighbor's yard beyond their vision. Sam narrowed his eyes. "Smooth."

"What I suck at sports."

"That shouldn't affect your ability to drop a bag straight down." Just then the door opened and Mark walked in.

"Hey fellas any luck? Whatcha looking at the sunset?"

"We were um observing the side of the house to see if anything had um possibly been dropped from one of the windows." Sam answered even his specifically trained brain struggling to find an excuse.

"Well I think we've checked the yard I suppose if someone really wanted to get rid of something they could chunk it onto the neighbor's property. Hey actually that house has been vacant for sometime so if there was something out there it's possible it didn't get reported I'll have a couple guys check it out. You two need anything else?"

"No we were just leaving. Thank you for your time and the chance to have a look around." Mitchell answered through grit teeth.

Without another word he pushed Sam along and the two casually walked down stairs and out the front door. Still with cops all around they stayed quiet. Sam saying quietly. "Go get the bag, the book has Ben's name in it, I'll pull the car around."

"This is your fault you get it."

"Not a negotiation." Sam said and jingled the keys in Mitchell's face opening the door.

On the other side of town Dean sat on a bench reading a year book he'd snagged from the school. He had spoken to some teachers as well as a few of Ben's classmates but had no luck it seemed Ben was as popular as he had been during high school, while not unpopular he apparently had a habit of keeping his head down with a splash of Sam's nerdiness as far as his 'extra credit courses' went.

When his phone started to ring he dropped the book with a thud onto the bench beside him and grumbled answering it he said. "What's up Sam you find anything?"

"Yes actually lots of stuff just not Ben unfortunately, though we did find his magic stash and a disposable cell that Dubois called. He's threatening to kill Madeline if we don't hand over Blanc so even more reason to find Ben as soon as possible. I was thinking we could hit every motel in town beyond that I don't know it's your call, could be he's just in the wind. Anyway me and Mitchell are gonna head your way."

Dean's end remained silent however. Sam was starting to wonder if he hadn't hung up on him when he heard Dean say in a quick hushed voice. "I found him." Sam wasn't sure if he heard him correctly at first but when Dean's line clicked dead Sam figured it must be true. Beside Sam, Mitchell rooted around in the duffle bag and came up empty they'd risked their necks for more clothes.

There he was plain as day walking head down hands stuffed in his pockets. His clothes said most of the statement a heavy leather jacket and jeans along with a simple baseball cap, his head was down but Dean knew he saw a pair of hazel eyes hiding behind glasses… glasses really? As well as short brown hair poking out from underneath the cap. He wore a backpack and if Dean wasn't seeing things there was a Anti possession symbol sewn to it.

Slowly getting off the bench Dean crossed the street and fell in a safe distance behind him. His heart was pounding and he wondered if his eyes had just been playing tricks on him after all what were the odds. No he knew it was him without a doubt in his mind, he wanted to reach out and grab him by the shoulder make him turn around but a million reasons not to thundered in his head, chances are he'd just bolt was the foremost.

Pulling out his phone and keeping one eye on the figure in front of him the whole time he texted Sam where he'd left the Impala and told him to meet him at the hotel. Where had he been hiding all this time and why was he even still in Battle Creek if he was in possession of the one thing Dubois wanted, well beyond killing Mitchell and Madeline.

As the questions piled on Dean began to focus instead of the fact Ben was now a witch a fact that grounded him in reality and allowed him to follow him for the next fifteen minutes until they arrived at where Ben had been hiding all this time… the same hotel they were staying it. Holding back Dean watched him disappear into room 2 just a couple doors down from them and wondered what cosmic entity was laughing at him now.

 **Well there it is chapter 6 I realize it's been forever and a half since I published the last chapter and for that I am sorry and would like to share why. See I'd been planning this fic or some time and in truth I wanted to wait until it was done to even publish the first chapter but I ran into a road block by ch 3 and so I had the brilliant idea to go ahead and start uploading on a weekly basis and this worked sort of I got two more chapters out of it this way and then lo and behold I screeched to a halt yet again. So yea sorry anyway... They found Ben sort of, next chapter should be pretty exciting. Also I wanted to address the comments I've gotten firstly to the kind commenter who said I wrote Sam well. Thank you my strategy is rather simple I recall watching a panel with J2 and I believe the topic was a Supernatural drinking game and they were asked to make rules I forgot who said it but their rule was every time Sam says "Dean" which is a lot I hadn't really noticed it until then and now I hear it every single episode regardless that has been my strategy thus far just work Dean into every sentence funny and weird but it works. Also everyone else who said they were looking forward to the next chapter ha, ha jokes on you. Just kidding I thank everyone for the support and I swear the next chapter will come much quicker than this one did sorry again. Wow I've been writing this P.S. for a long time just in case someone wants a unaltered answer the actual ch only has 2000 words. Thank you see you next week (It might be longer than a week)**


	7. The Reunion of a lifetime?

**Okay Ch 7 we are approaching the end people I am sorry it took, what a year and a half start to finish? Whoops anyway I won't keep you from it I'll just say thanks for reading my fic.**

Chapter 7 – The Reunion

The door swung open and Ben through the inky blackness saw it a tall form standing over the fish tank looking mildly amused. 'Blanc!' he shouted in his mind and raced forward not knowing himself how he planned to take out the oldest familiar in history, granted he spent his time moon lighting as a stupid fish so how tough could he be? And then he felt something hit him from the side and everything went black. Of course it wasn't a matching set without Dubois in the mix.

Ben was beginning to wonder if he shouldn't have told Madeline to shove it when she offered him the job and the… opportunities that came with it. All in all it had been a very hectic very weird four months since he turned sixteen and had been urged by his mom to get a job. Oh yea mom do many employment opportunities include magic lessons?

Technically most of the fault was his own, there were many businesses in Battle Creek heck he probably could have walked into Biggerson's and been handed an apron right away, or something to that effect but no. Every day he saw it walking to school walking from school a simple building that left a constant nagging in the back of his head, was that always there? He would ask himself every time he passed it.

Even so Ben never went in not until his mom started nagging him and decided he'd start his job search there. The shop itself was fairly nice if not cramped, shelves full of random knick-knacks and such. As he made his way to the back he stopped to observe a snow globe which seemed out of place among the wood carved statuettes. Picking it up he observed the town the sloping glass was built around Cicero, Indiana.

Looking it over a shadow suddenly seemed to drape the town in darkness and Ben jumped back startled he dropped the globe, the glass shattering against the stone floor liquid drenching two pairs of shoes. Though he apologized profusely Madeline never looked angry rather she wore a wry smile as she bent down and seemed to wait. Then as if watching a tape in reverse Ben watched as the snow globe reassembled itself in the palm of her hand.

True he considered running for the door but only once, then overwhelming curiosity took its place. He got the job and spent most of his days stocking or running the cash register and afterwards or even during work assuming there were no customers and Yuri wasn't working Madeline would feed him scraps of knowledge him eating up every bit.

Even so Ben couldn't say when it changed from witchcraft trivia to witchcraft boot camp and school not that he minded, the subject matter was far from boring and he loved spending time at the witches' apartment building with Madeline and Mitchell. The only thing he didn't like was lying to his mother every day it seemed was a new lie advised by Madeline. After school meetings and hanging out with friends he hadn't spoken to in weeks.

He never wondered if it was necessary as Madeline never held anything back and made sure he knew how dangerous the world really was and that the fish the twins carted everywhere was actually a dangerous familiar who was held in check by five other fishy familiar's. That tidbit was harder to swallow after all it had been his job to feed them for a month prior to learning what they were. After being told Ben often observed the normal looking beta fish and wondered how the creature dependant on him remembering to feed it could possibly ever be viewed as dangerous.

The other fish in the tank were a Plecostomus or sucker fish named Juan according to Madeline, and two red swordtail's Jane and Jasmine, siblings not unlike the two witches. Last was Ben's personal favorite a rainbow colored platy named Bebop a name he was sure was not given to him by choice. Oddly Ben had talked to the fish almost constantly when they were in his care before and after finding out they were familiars and had been working on a spell to forge a telepathic link without having to make a witch familiar pact despite him being a witch and Bebop being a familiar.

Had he known then what he knew now however he wouldn't have bothered with the stupid fish seeing as ever since Madeline's disappearance he had been keeping them safe well until now. His head felt thick and fuzzy as he came to and was immediately aware of the bindings around his hands. Rope thankfully rope he could deal with iron burned like hell it had ever since he cast his first spell perhaps the most alarming thing being how quick it had taken affect.

Shaking his head to get a clear view in the dark room a voice broke through beside him. "Hey." the voice said somewhat alarmed as Ben came to. Suddenly from the inky black a face broke though inches from his own a glare set on his face. "Morning sunshine, I think we need to talk."

"Bite me demon." Ben said through clenched teeth then fearlessly reared back and slammed his head forward into the bridge of Dubois nose.

Ben's vision swam from the impact as a second much taller figure came from the right. "And you I should have had a fish fry with your ass when I had the chance eh fishy, fishy." he said mockingly though the taller figure just looked bewildered.

"You think I'm Blanc?" Sam asked mildly amused while Dean pinched the bridge of his nose and swore spectacularly.

"I'm gonna kick you're a-"

"-Dean." Sam interrupted getting between Ben and his brother. "I told you, you shouldnt've knocked him out."

While the lover's quarreled Ben looked around now that his vision had adjusted to the darkness though not as much as they would have with his glasses and gave a sigh of relief when he saw the small aquarium sitting on the room's desk and the pale Beta that swam gently to and fro within. Refocusing he began whispering under his breath and in only a few seconds felt the ropes slide off of him leaving a red paste coating his arms.

He grimaced at the gross factor and was also mildly annoyed that Mitchell's useless technique had come in handy after all. "-what's that smell?" the taller of the two men asked suddenly while the shorter met the now freed Ben's gaze. Stepping forward Dean pressed a fence post against his shirt and chest underneath though the fabric negated any real pain the iron might cause he could still feel the intent of the metal pressing him back in his seat.

Sam meanwhile looked behind the chair and said with a breath of laughter. "Spaghetti, he turned the ropes into spaghetti, literally." Ignoring his bemused brother Dean spoke directly.

"Just fyi we have cuffs in a variety of iron with glyphs that could paralyze a king of hell and master coven witch both so why don't you just sit tight and cut the parlor tricks?" Dean said though an air of uncertainty seemed to smother him.

"I know who you are." Ben said simply and with the post still pressed against him he felt the shake enter Dean's grip while behind them Sam straightened stone faced. "Your Dean Winchester the guy who used to date my mom right?"

"You… remember?" Dean asked stoic as he could muster.

"No you erased our memories not your own dunce."

"Then how-" Dean didn't finish his sentence and his grip on the post slackened greatly.

Ben straightened up confidently saying with as much bravado as he could muster. "Madeline told me. She told me everything but no you don't have to worry pops I can look at your face all day wouldn't mean a thing to me, you on the other hand-" he let the implication hang and unable to hold it anymore Dean broke away turning to look at anything else in the room handing Sam the post as he did.

As Sam stood staring at Ben behind them the hotel door slammed and Dean was gone. "You realize he came here to help you the second he found out you were in trouble." Sam spoke evenly but kept the post pressed to Ben all the same.

"Yea well I didn't ask him to, I was doing just fine on my own."

"Holed up in a crappy hotel room for almost a week while Dubois tears the town apart looking for the one thing he needs, the thing you have." Sam retorted skeptically while with his free hand he handed Ben his glasses which he quickly put on.

"You're awfully knowledgeable for a clueless hunter." he said just as smugly.

"Clueless hunter's hm? Like the one who died keeping you out of Dubois grip?"

For the first time Ben's confidence seemed to slip. "He died? I- I didn't know."

"Yea well that's what we do, help at the cost of little to no appreciation. And maybe go a bit easier on him he didn't exactly want this to happen." Sam spoke not having to say it was the memory removal he spoke of.

Ben said nothing and Sam let the post drop to the floor turning around as the door opened and Dean walked back in Mitchell on his tail. "Ben." he said happily running over.

"Hey Mitchell your hanging out with these guys?" Ben answered standing and wiping the pasta off his arms.

Mitchell observed the action and smiled gleefully but didn't mention it saying instead. "Yea their alright, but Dubois has Madeline and we need to get her back. Without handing over Blanc if at all possible."

"I see." Was all Ben said sounding quite grown as he rubbed his chin leaving a red streak as he did. Dean managed an eye roll.

"Where is he holding her?"

"He wouldn't say until we got our hands on you and the aquarium we need to call him I guess but who wants to dial, it is my sister so-" Mitchell let the sentence drop as he waved Ben's phone through the air in the center of the four. Dean snatched it and called the last number on the phone without hesitation even tapping his foot impatiently as it rang, he was however quite surprised to hear a girl's voice pick up.

Yes?" she spoke coolly.

"Madeline?" Dean asked confused.

"Not quite this is Dubois I merely had to get a new suit one that wasn't beginning to get fragrant. You must be one of the hunter's I've seen running around town." She spoke evenly and without emotion.

"I am name's Dean I'll be overseeing the transfer between Madeline and your fish if you don't mind."

"Absolutely not, the more the merrier." She said breaking off into an eerie bout of laughter.

Dean felt a shiver go down his spine but simply did a full body shake to disguise it and said.

"Great where are we meeting?"

"The twins warehouse of course. Speaking of bring Mitchell I so wish to see this family reunited, oh and be sure to bring that boy the one who ran out before I could grab him I would like to have words with him as well." She said and laughed again this time more heartily and maniacally.

Dean hung up and handed the phone to Sam. "Where's your warehouse?"

"We have a warehouse?" Ben asked surprised though Dean pardoned the WE on account of Mitchell's now incredibly pale face.

"We did." he said at last. "Though not really since Madeline opened Inkantation it's really more of a evidence hold up containing all the stuff we've collected over the years all that we couldn't fit in the apartment… Or didn't want to."

"How come I didn't know about th-" Ben started but Dean cut him off.

"What kind of stuff?" he asked annoyed.

"Magical artifact's mostly."

"Be specific." Dean pressed.

"Dubois's old stuff things we salvaged after the demons helped us take him down. His sword his journal's Blanc's stuff is there to."

"And where is it?"

"Right outside of town I can show you where."

"No you'll have to tell us neither of you are going." Dean said and awaited the wave of complaining and excuses which came promptly after.

"She's my sister I have to go!"

"I owe Dubois a beating for that hunter that died protecting me!" Ben shouted.

"Oh really you have to avenge his honor how are you gonna do that pipsqueak you'd be fighting without kiddy gloves and he won't hesitate to kill you. Heck he wants to which is exactly why you aren't going.

And you Mitchell when we found you, you were hiding with fighting Dubois at the bottom of your to do list besides my point is he wants both of you to bad which means we can't give you to him or even put you in the same room he'd go right for you besides my decision is final. Stay here let the professional's take care of this one."

Dean finished and looked from one witch to the other daring them to argue. Neither did. "Now where's the lock up?"

"Fine I agree Ben should stay, but I'm not telling you until you agree to take me." Mitchell said bravely, braver still once the silver blade slid from Dean's sleeve and into his hand, a trick he'd seen Cas pull off a hundred times and Dean felt badass every time he himself did it.

Sam was certain Dean wasn't likely to kill Mitchell least of all with Ben in the room. "Can I speak to you outside please." he asked somewhat disarmingly though rigid as a diamond. Or perhaps not.

"Dean come on." Sam said grabbing his arm.

"No it's fine maybe you can pull it off me and Ben will sit this one out the warehouse is at 811 W Elm just out of town."

"Good just sit tight and we'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail offering a faintly reassuring smile which reassured absolutely nobody.

Ben just shook his head anger plain as day. "This is bull the only reason your even here is because of me this isn't your problem it's ours an-"

"Ben." Mitchell cut him off. "It's fine their hunter's they deal with this stuff every day let them handle it." Letting them handle it was the last thing Ben was gonna do but besides fuming all he could do was glare at Dean.

"Alright so the fish you said their all Daemon's are they going to be any help in this fight?"

"No." Mitchell answered. "They're daemon's sure but it takes all of them to hold Blanc as a fish let alone as a bonded familiar, once he's taken a human form in any proximity to Dubois… both their powers will grow exponentially, even being bonded to another witch would do little to stem their power." Mitchell finished giving a sideways glance to Ben who tensed.

"All the more reason to leave him here with you two."

"Wait your not gonna take the only bargaining chip! What if he kills Madeline the second he see's you don't have Blanc!"

"He won't." Dean said confidently enough though the I hope muttered afterwards disappeared without recognition. "We'll hit him fast and hard now if you'll excuse us."

Neither Ben nor Mitchell complained again as they watched Sam and Dean prepare to launch an artillery strike of magical weapons at Dubois most everything needed nestled neatly in the trunk. Once while Mitchell and Sam were muttering about different occult rituals yet again Dean caught Ben eyeing the Impala. Remember that summer in 09 when I made you work on the car with me?"

"No." he said giving a leery look."I told you I didn't."

"Yea well maybe that's for the best I snapped at you once for getting your hands on this bad boy."Dean said now offering the shotgun over freely. Ben eyed it with the same skepticism he had Dean saying. "Why doesn't that surprise me. Also no iron for me remember?" Dean nodded

"It was a long time ago. I was trying to keep you out of the hunter's life and look at you now…" Dean dropped the shotgun into the trunk with little to do.

"A witch. Well at least it was my choice." Ben stated but the answer seemed a tad flimsy, Dean pretended not to notice.

"True but it makes you think if I'd embraced it, you'd be just starting hunting Lisa'd be with me instead of that tool."

"Hey Mark's pretty cool." Ben argued but chuckled nonetheless. "This is better." he added causing Dean to glare openly.

"What makes you say that?" he asked shutting the trunk a massive duffel bag over his shoulder.

"Because Mitchell and Madeline are my family now and I could never think about hurting them, as a hunter I wouldn't really have a choice."

"That's not fair we get along great with Mitchell."

"You shot him in the chest!"

"Well he turned my gun into-" Dean trailed off flushing red. "Never mind." he said when he'd regained his composure. "Sammy round up let's go."

Sam fell in and the two climbed into the Impala Dean looking at Ben out the open window saying. "Lay low and stay safe we'll call you when it's over."

"Drive carefully." Mitchell threw in though Dean just looked at him deadpan. Once they'd driven off Ben looked to Mitchell.

"I can't believe you let them leave without us."

"I wouldn't worry the werewolves at that abandoned shopping center ought to keep them busy long enough for us to rescue Madeline."

"Mitchell you lied to them… That's awesome!"

"Grab the fish and let's go before the Winchester's get wise."

 **God I hope I wrote a satisfying reunion there will be more Dean/Ben talk I promise but until then... How'd I do? Right so there will be one maybe two chapters left and then well let's just say I'm working on whatever comes next anyway thanks for reading. And please tell me how I did.**


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